"We need to seriously pay attention to this."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Deputy Minister for Trade Affairs Bayu Krisnamurthi said Indonesia expected its non-oil and non-gas exports would approach the US$5 billion figure in 2013.

"We are still optimistic that our non-oil and non-gas exports would be surplus, nearing the US$5 billion figure but our oil and gas exports would still face heavy pressures this year," the deputy minister said here on Monday.

He told a press conference on the trade performance of his ministry that Indonesia`s trade deficit in 2012 was recorded at US$1.7 billion.

Bayu said that Indonesia`s non-oil non-gas exports which recorded a surplus of US$3.9 billion in 2012 was a satisfactory achievement, particularly if global economic uncertainties were taken into account.

He said that the country`s trade balance recorded a deficit because the demand for imported raw fuel oils which reached US$28.7 billion was very high.

"As a result of the high oil and gas imports our trade balance suffered a deficit of US$1.7 billion. We need to seriously pay attention to this," he added.

He said that the trade balance in the oil sector in 2013 would still face a heavy burden. Although it would be better than in 2012, yet it would still face pressures.

The pressures the oil sector would face this year included the increase price of oil which exceeded the assumption. It has been increasing from US$90 to US$100 per barrel to US$11-US$115 per barrel.

In the meantime the value of the rupiah continued to weaken against the US dollar currency, and became one of the factors which would put pressures for importing oil this year.

"On the aspect on consumption, we should be efficient in consuming fuels because otherwise it would swell from the allocated 48 million kiloliters to 50 million kiloliters," he said.

In the meantime, Jakarta has recorded a 20.30 percent increase in non-oil and gas exports during January 2013 that reached US$1.15 billion compared to December 2012 at US$0.96 billion.

The Jakarta chapter of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in a statement to the press received by Antara on Friday said that compared to the same period in January 2012, goods exports from Jakarta increased 17.11 percent.

Meanwhile, exports via Jakarta during January 2013 reached US$ 4.15 billion or increased by 10.16 percent from December 2012 recorded at US$ 3.76 billion.

Compared to the same period last year, exports through the capital special region in January 2013 were also 6.06 percent higher than January 2012.
(Uu.A014/H-YH)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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